Last Words

(Ordinary People Speak at the Moment of DeathIn or Around the New York City Area)

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"I am surprised. The weather is very fine over there."

Dying of meningitis at the age of thirty-three, Brian Henry breathed his last in a run-down
hotel room on Bleecker Street. According to his neighbor, a young prostitute named Lilly who
cared for him until his death, he always wanted to visit Trinity, New Mexico, birthplace of the
atom bomb. When he died, that's where Lilly assumed he was headed.

"map": (noun) a symbolic depiction for use in navigation
highlighting relationships between elements such as objects, regions, and themes.

why did i say those words for chrissakes i've never been out of the
city coney island once on a date but that's it i haven't even been to the
bronx thank god lilly had a map put an atom symbol on there for me before i
left other than missing the booze i've never once looked back

"I'm too busy for this."

A successful stock broker, Stewart Holcombe was working on Wall Street in 2008 when the stock
market collapsed. He lost most of his fortune but swore he would get it back. Three years later,
having almost recovered his losses, he was hit by a taxi near Zuccotti Park. The taxi driver was
a school teacher who had lost his job during the recession.

"taxicab": (noun) chauffeur-driven automobile to carry passengers
between any two points for a fare determined by a meter.

do i feel guilty about playing with other people's money no way
they knew the risks you didn't see them crying when the market was up sure i spun the
wheel and lost it was just a game to me but like all games it's no fun playing
alone

"I win."

Avid collector of sports memoribilia, Rod Franken, 42, died of a stroke while bidding on a 1933
Lou Gehrig rookie card at an auction in Newark, New Jersey. Although he lost his bid, he managed
to wrest the card from the auctioneer and clasp it to his heart before collapsing onto the
floor. His widow bought the card a week later online, and Rod was buried with it.

"home run": (noun) a hit that enables a batter to score a run
by making a nonstop circuit of the bases usually by hitting the ball out of
the playing area.

i was told you can't take it with you but i did now i'm waiting
on my wife the three of us a team home run right out of the park

"This is all very confusing."

Long-time alcoholic and gay Lothario, Maggie "Bullfinch" Butler had a standing bet that no one,
male or female, could outdrink her. Put to the test, she faced off with an unknown woman in an
East Side bar and drank thirty-six shots of tequila in twenty minutes. She died of alcohol
poisoning, as did her challenger, a housewife from Brooklyn. No one collected the ten dollar
bet.

"shot glass": (noun) a small glass adequate to hold a single
swallow taken in one breath.

the fact is she died first by about three minutesso technically i won
we threw our shot glasses against the wall in celebrationno prize or anything
just the satisfaction of coming out on top she was a pretty good sport for a
brooklyn cow

"I hear a Dead Man’s Bells."

Mrs. Hillie Ingram, newly widowed and living on Park Avenue, expired two hours after brewing her
nightly tea using her late husband's digitalis instead of her usual Earl Gray. Her housekeeper,
who was the only witness, found the delirious woman sitting upright in bed when she spoke her
last words. The empty cup, with its monogram "H.I.," was in her left hand.

"pill": (noun) 1. a small rounded mass of medicinal substance that
is to be swallowed whole; 2. something unpleasant that has to be accepted or
endured.

he was a rat pawing the sweets love and anger mixed up so i
gave him his pill the weepy widow (that's me) crying at the funeral i heard a
young girl laugh on the street outside the church

"Santa Claus is dead"

Broadcast on internet radio, Allan Bodenko's last words came after a two hour diatribe on the
commercialization of holidays and the need to keep the spirit of Santa Claus alive. Spoken from
his Forest Hills hospital bed while chain-smoking Pall Malls, Bodenko hacked and wheezed his way
through a meandering speech that had no clear beginning or end. His recording, a parting gift to
his eldest son, had two million plays in three days.

"gift": (noun) something given voluntarily in honor of an occasion
without payment in return

he came for me like a great winter the cold on my feetin my hands
and chest where's the gifts i askedwhere's my toy train his breath sighed in my
face

"Tell Franklin to dig up the Forsythia."

No one knows who Franklin was, and many among Edward Hammer's friends and associates believe he
never existed. But this did not stop Mr. Hammer from dictating a long list of mundane chores to
be completed on his property in Long Beach after his death. These chores included raking the
yard, washing the dishes, vacuuming the house, and cleaning all the bathroom mirrors. None of
these chores were done because Franklin, if he existed, never received his commands.

"shovel": (noun) an implement consisting of a broad blade or scoop
attached to a long handle used for taking up or removing or throwing loose
matter.

franklin that's me is all there was a bunch of shit i was
supposed to do never got around to it too late now no shovel to dig a garden
or fill a hole

"Sizzle pop for desire in entire golden fields."

These words were written by Language poet Lizzie Finnigan just before she died in her sleep at
the age of eighty-four. With limited publications, and mostly ignored during her lifetime, she
spent her final days writing poetry in a rest home in Yonkers. Upon her death, nursing aides
found a suitcase under her bed which contained one thousand poems divided into bundles neatly
tied up in blue ribbons. The last poem, with its single, incomprehensible line, lay on top.

"suit·case": (noun) a usually rectangular piece of luggage
especially for carrying clothes and personal effects while traveling.

hello pack the bags tissue stamped waltz oncetwicethrice dance
upon the wedding rice catch the switch and dipple if you can billy&sally&tim&fran